Tuesday; July 7


          I do a lot of my online meetings from my office.  I have a web camera set up near my desk with a plain background behind me.  This set up works pretty well for me – most of the time.  You see, I also have a clock right above the door in front of me which requires that if I want to check on the time I have to shift my eyes skyward.  Now, this may not sound like too much of a problem other than when I did this the other day I realized that it can look like I am rolling my eyes in a derisive way.  I discovered this when I went to check on the time when someone was making a comment and it looked like I was rolling my eyes at what they were saying.  That was the farthest thing from my intent, but it sure could have been construed that way.
          One of the challenges of dealing with each other in modern ways comes from having to relearn some of our social cues.  Modern changes will inevitably require alterations in the way we perceive and interact with each other.  (For example, we need to start looking for smiling eyes rather than smiling lips hidden behind a mask.)  As we learn these new social clues, let’s make sure we cut each other some slack.  We have been trained to interact in a certain way by years of training – now we are required to become experts in a matter of days or weeks.  We are blessed to have access to have the modern technology, but let’s utilize some extra patience with each other as we learn the finer points of making it work.
Think About It!

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